


The Mechanic And The Captain

by LaceyBarbedWire



Series: Rey: Lesbian Catnip [1]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Cause I'm Silly, F/F, Fluff, Meet-Cute, Older Woman/Younger Woman, Sugar Dating Dynamics, based on a tweet, might add smut later, no force
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-04
Updated: 2020-05-11
Packaged: 2021-02-27 15:54:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,353
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22119736
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LaceyBarbedWire/pseuds/LaceyBarbedWire
Summary: In which Rey is a soft butch mechanic whose attempts to be suave and in charge...don't always work out like how she'd want. Which isn't to say they backfire, just that the outcome tends to be unexpected. Stupid sexy security contractors.
Relationships: Phasma/Rey, Poe Dameron/Finn/Rose Tico
Series: Rey: Lesbian Catnip [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1623538
Comments: 15
Kudos: 74





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Based on this tweet https://i.redd.it/pjf9srb90d841.jpg
> 
> Though with a twist cause...well...Rey is the subbiest sub to ever be a sub. I don't care what setting, I don't care what dynamic. She's an adorable little submissive, even if she might think otherwise. 
> 
> As for why this is from Phasma's perspective? To be perfectly honest, I'm not remotely confident enough in my own abilities to translate the actions shown in this tweet to actual dialogue from Rey's perspective in a way that won't make her look like a complete asshole. But Phasma's perspective and reactions let me soften the whole thing. The next chapter will be from Rey's perspective though, don't you worry!
> 
> Hope you can forgive me these changes, and I hope y'all like the fic!

Phasma pulled up into ‘Uncle Plutt’s Auto Shop’ with a sigh. This...was not the garage she would have picked to visit, if she had her way. But unfortunately, beggars couldn’t be choosers, as Armitage was fond of saying. Of course, when he’d say that Ben would look at him funny and point out that as senior members of the largest security firm on the planet they weren’t exactly beggars, but then Armitage would throw something light at him and start going on about the need to stick to company approved vendors. She found it best to just go along with the poor turn of phrase than be obstinate about it.

And that was how she’d wound up out here. The man who owned....a distressing amount of the Utah town of Jakku was Unkar Plutt. He was a harsh, unpleasant man who looked rather bizarrely like if Simon Pegg had been stung by a million bees, and who lorded over the town like a 19th century robber baron. And like most ‘rich but not rich enough’ petty men, he was constantly worried about people taking what he believed to be his. So, Phasma had been sent with a team to start securing his businesses and mansion. 

But, of course, no sooner had she arrived than her car had started to break down. And, of course, their contract with Plutt meant she had exactly one option on where to go. She was reasonably certain that the man would have made it quite clear to his employees to treat the First Order employees well, but at the same time she hated non company owned auto shops. Never a good experience she thought sourly as she walked into the front and rang the bell. Always smelly, unhsaven, grease covered men, always cocky and sure she’d just forgotten to get an oil change and that she would find their dumb blonde jokes and clumsy flirting charming. Nothing good ever happened to her in auto shops….

“Well, aren’t you a babe? Welcome to Uncle Plutt’s Auto Shop, how can I service you?” A voice cut through her internal rant, and she blinked. Standing in front of her was a beautiful young woman, clad in jeans and an open denim jacket that revealed the white tank top she wore beneath. While a few spots of grease marked her tan face and neck, her hair was carefully tied up and her clothes clean. Two things immediately occured to Phasma at that moment. One, that this trip, both to the shop and to the town, might not be all that terrible. And two, the little thing in front of her was adorable. Normally she’d bristle at a stranger calling her babe, but she was too curious to see how far this would go.

All this ran through her brain in a second, and she answered before the mechanic in front of her could notice anything. “The check engine light on my car is on, and it’s sputtering and coughing and stalling. I need you to take a look/” The young woman nodded quickly, then stopped and tried to cover up the burst of eagerness to help. 

“Of course, not a problem. Anything for a beautiful woman. Why don’t you bring it into Bay 3 and I’ll take a look.” Phasma kept her face carefully blank and nodded, turning and heading out to the large silver four door the company had provided. The stupid thing fought her for a few seconds, but eventually rolled over and let her start it and she drove it into the bay. She was going to kill the person who’d delivered their vehicles to Jakku, there was no excuse for this.

Phasma stepped out of the luxury car just in time to catch a look of awe and and excitement on the young woman, making her look not unlike a puppy. “That’s the nicest car I’ve seen in my life.” She breathed, before shaking her head. “Okay, why don’t you pop the hood, let me take a look?” Phasma paused, looking in at the driver’s area of the car, then shook her head.

“It’s a company car and I honestly have no idea how to pop the hood. There’s too many switches.” The young woman let out a soft chuffing laugh.

“Fair enough, let me get in there.” She said, gently brushing past Phasma to get access to the array of buttons and switches. Phasma didn’t mind, cars weren’t her strong suit. They interested her to the extent that they could get her where she wanted to go and the quality of the sound system. That was about it. Besides,the girl had a nice laugh. The hood popped a second later, and the young woman withdrew, walking briskly to the front. She fiddled with the hood for a second, then raised and propped it open. From this angle, Phasma had a perfect view of the way her face lit up in excitement. Before she’d caught the end of it, now she got to see the whole thing, from gleeful interest in a piece of machinery to careful, reserved restraint. “It’s beautiful.” The young woman murmured, before shaking her head and sending a cocky smile Phasma’s way. “Not as beautiful as you though.” Phasma gave a small smile back at that. 

“I don’t suppose the source of the problem is immediately obvious?” She asked, steering the girl’s focus back to the engine. The mechanic frowned, shaking her head.

“No, ‘fraid not. That’s good though!” She added, hurriedly trying to reassure Phasma. “If it were visible at a glance it’d mean something was really wrong. This means it’s something small and important, but easier to fix. Though...probably expensive, given the quality of this engine…” She bit her lip, then shook her head and removed the denim jacket. Phasma inhaled lightly through her nose, trying to not show a reaction at the sight of tan, toned arms. The young woman lacked the muscles that she had, but she wasn’t soft either. She watched with interest as the mechanic brought the jacket over to her, holding it out with a slight smirk. Curious as to where this was going, Phasma took the jacket, getting a wider, pleased smile in response. “Take care of it for me while I work, yeah?” She asked, gently nudging Phasma’s jaw with her knuckle.

That did it. Phasma had been trying to show restraint at the over the top, cocky, ‘suave’, attempts at flirting. At the way the young woman rather blatantly copied the men she no doubt worked around. But she couldn’t handle it anymore. This was just too much. So she raised an eyebrow, opened her mouth, and...started laughing. Deep, amused belly laughs began to roll from her, and she bent over slightly. The young mechanic blinked, taken aback, and her confusion and dismay just made Phasma laugh more. Eventually she stopped though, folding the jacket over her left arm and gently gripping the young woman’s chin with her right hand. “You. Are. Adorable. What’s your name?”

“R...Rey.” She stammered, wide eyed, clearly unprepared for this reaction to her behavior. Phasma smirked.

“Rey. A pretty name for a pretty young woman. Do you flirt with every woman who comes in like this, or am I special?” Rey shook her head as much as the hand on her chin allowed for. 

“N...no, I know everyone in Jakku, know that wouldn’t go over well. Sir...Mr. Plutt I mean, he said there’d be new people, city folk. I thought you might be more open…” Phasma chuckled.

“Oh, I am, believe me. But sadly I have work to get to, and for that I need this car running. Which means I’m afraid I’m going to have to remove some distractions from you.” She plucked a marker from the pocket of her slacks, and released Rey’s chin in favor of gripping her wrist. She uncapped the marker and quickly wrote her number on the young woman’s hand. “Call me when you’ve fixed the car, or if you discover it’ll take a few days.” She said, capping the marker and putting it back.

“O...okay.” Rey stammered, still wide eyed as Phasma began to walk away. “W...wait, my jacket!” Phasma grinned over her shoulder at her. 

“You told me to keep it safe, and that’s what I intend to do. You’ll get it back when you’re done with the work on my car you considered such a risk to it.” She said, heading fully out of the bay and pulling her phone out. She hit a button, number four on her speed dial. “Finn, stop kissing Poe and come pick me up, I’m at Plutt’s auto shop.” She said bluntly before hanging up. That taken care of, she let out a pleased chuckle. She didn’t know if she believed in Ben’s strange religion, or any other for that matter, but she took a moment to thank whatever deity might be out there for delivering the little snack she’d just found to her. Maybe Jakku wouldn’t be so bad.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Rey manages to fix Phasma's car, Phasma has to put up with Poe's shit, and Finn has to put up with Poe *and* Phasma's shit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So uhm...I'm going to do my best to keep the characters here in character, more or less, but there will be some changes due to the changed setting and background. Phasma in particular is going to be OOC (for a given value of such, considering her unfortunately limited characterization in the films.). I will do my damnedest to not just turn this fic into a story about a bunch of OCs that I slapped Star Wars names onto, but there will be adjustments made to try and accommodate the story.
> 
> All of which is to say, Phasma is going to get into snark battles with Poe, and allow him and Finn to be insubordinate to her, and I hope y'all can forgive me for that!

Rey stared after the other woman, still reeling as the beautiful blonde took her jacket and left her in the dust. It was with a start that she realized she’d never actually gotten her name, only given her own out. That might be somewhat troublesome, she thought as she took a picture of her hand with her own phone. It was a piece of junk, a burner, but it was something at least, and it had a camera. That was what mattered at the moment, as she made sure to get a clear picture. If nothing else, she needed to be able to tell the customer when her car was ready. 

She shook her head, face bright red still, as she refocused on the car. It was a beautiful piece of machinery, but from what she could tell it was entirely custom. The only logo on it was a red and black stylized gear at the apex of the hood and on the trunk door that she remembered from Plutt’s email as the company logo for the First Order folks, and while Rey could spot a few pieces of the engine that she knew the manufacturer of, many of them were unfamiliar to her. 

Still, a car was a car, and Rey was pretty confident in her knowledge of cars. Everything was recognizable, even if she wasn’t sure who’d made all of it. She certainly wasn’t about to let the taller woman down. That wasn’t on the table. So she grabbed her tools, wheeling a cart over, and began to start checking. The carburetor seemed like a smart place to start, given the sounds she’d heard in the brief period where the vehicle was in motion. And if that wasn’t it, well, she had some other ideas on where to check. She’d figure it out.

-PxR-PxR-PxR-PxR-

Phasma climbed into the silver SUV with a nod. Before she could manage to actually say ‘thanks’ however, her head of surveying on this job started in. “I wasn’t kissing Poe when you called.” Finn huffed. 

“Oh, you were kissing Rose?” Phasma asked. “I didn’t know she was coming in early. She usually waits until we’re done surveying the sites and clearing everything.” 

“No, Rose did not get in early!” Finn protested, spluttering and bashful. “I was doing my job! I don’t spend every moment kissing my SOs!” Phasma nodded sagely. 

“I know. Sometimes you make love.” She said dryly. Or as dryly as she could manage. Unfortunately it was impossible to keep  _ all  _ of her amusement out of her voice. That definitely got a reaction from the poor young man though, which was enough. 

“This is why I just flip her off and kiss you the minute I see you when she gets like this.” A voice drawled from the back. Phasma turned in her seat to find her head of weakness detection laying on the bench seating on his laptop open. “Get a lot less snark that way.” Finn glanced in the rear view mirror.

“Poe, seat belt!” He scolded. Then he paused, walking through what his lover had just said. “Wait, sometimes you just kiss me to taunt Phasma?”

“I mean, not  _ just  _ to taunt Phasma.” Poe said with a shrug, not bothering to move to put a seatbelt on. “But it can be a fringe benefit, yeah.” He glanced up from some footage to look at the pair up front in the mirror. “Speaking of which, you find a good piece of meat in the auto shop Phasma?” She blinked.

“Excuse me?”

“Aside from the fact that you’re in a pretty good mood for someone who’s going to have to carpool for a bit  _ and  _ explain to Hugs why one of our cars is already in an auto shop, you didn’t notice me until I spoke up. You’re usually far more observant than that. I can only think of two reasons for why you’d be that happy. One is that Plutt just died and we get to leave this junk town early. But given that you’re carrying a denim jacket that’s definitely not yours, I’m going to go with you found a hot mechanic.” Finn blinked, then glanced at the jacket in Phasma’s lap, having just registered its presence. 

“Phasma, did you make a mechanic strip for you?” He groaned.

“Why would I do that?” She demanded incredulously.

“I don’t know, but I also don’t why else you’d have someone else’s jacket!”

“She took it off and told me to keep it safe, that’s all. I didn’t force her to remove it, nor did I steal it. There’s only one thief in this SUV.”

“Ex-thief.” Poe said automatically. “And typically when people ask you to keep something of theirs safe in that context, they don’t mean take it and put it in a safe.” Phasma chuckled.

“She’ll get it back after she calls me.” She said, a tinge of smugness to her voice. 

“You going to steal a different piece of clothing after that?” Poe asked. Phasma shrugged. 

“That’s not  _ not _ on the table. Depends on how her behavior is.” There was a moment of silence in reaction to that, and Phasma took advantage of it to take out her phone and send Armitage a message, alerting him to the problem with her car. “What’s the situation currently? Where we out in the preliminary assessment?” She asked finally.

“The land’s fine, plenty of space to put up fences, floodlights, etc. Frankly the bigger problem is going to be  _ avoiding _ making new blind spots rather than existing ones.” Finn reported, eager for the subject change. 

“Wish I’d known about this dude back in the day, it’d be easy to wreck his shit.” Poe added. “I see why he’s worried, his security is seriously old school. Lot of locks, metal shudders, and heavy doors, not much else.” Phasma nodded. A cheapskate then, as worried about not spending money as he was about protecting what he had, but who suddenly had something happen to convince him to take some sort of steps. She’d worked with his type before, but fortunately she’d been promoted out of the position where she’d have to deal with his complaints about pricey equipment. Let Rose deal with it. The contracts were clear, not their fault if he didn’t read them. First Order Securities were the best and biggest in the world for a reason.

-PxR-PxR-PxR-PxR-

Four hours later, Rey was putting the woman’s engine back together. It had taken some time to figure out all the connectors, the custom design meant that she’d been forced to deal with the automotive equivalent of the uncanny valley, where everything was just ever so slightly off from where she expected to find it, a strange sense of ‘wrong’ to each and every different facet that defied her instincts. Plutt had mentioned that the city folk were a security firm, so maybe that was why? Designing their cars in a way that would limit people’s ability to break it down and strip it quickly. 

Oh well, at the end of the day she’d managed to get it fixed. She could call the woman and report back, then get her jacket back, then head home on her bike in time to feed her cats. All in all a good day, even if her attempts at flirting had backfired tremendously. It worked for her co-workers! She’d seen it! Why had it failed for her? It wasn’t a lack of interest, the other woman had made that pretty clear. So why?

She shook her head, forcing that thought to the back of her mind. She couldn’t let that concern or vulnerablitilty seep into her voice while on the phone. Even if the new woman wasn’t going to be predatory scum like most of the people in Jakku, nobody wanted to hear concern and confusion from their mechanic. So she took a deep breath and pulled out her phone. 

It was picked up on the second ring. “Captain Phasma, First Order Securiites.” So  _ that _ was her name.

“Ah, hello. This is Rey. From Uncle Plutt’s Auto Shop?” There was a low, husky chuckle from the other end of the phone, sending goosebumps up Rey’s arms.

“I remember you dear. How’s my car?” Rey thought she heard an incredulous male voice repeat ‘dear?’ on the other end, but decided not to comment on it in case she was mistaken.

“I have it up and running, everything’s fine for the moment. However, because so many of the parts are custom I can’t tell for certain what shape they’re in inside their casing, so I’m afraid I can’t gurantee it won’t break down again while you’re here.” That chuckle came again, and Rey fought not to bite her lip. 

“Are you saying you’re going to sabotage my vehicle to get me to come back?” Phasma drawled. 

“What? No, no!” Rey stammered, eyes wide and panicky. “I would never, I’m not…” This time a full throated laugh came through, like when the woman had reacted to her attempt to get her to hold her jacket. 

“Calm yourself Rey, I was joking. I’ll be there in about half an hour, is that alright? Or do I need to come back tomorrow?” Rey shook her head instinctively, then answered vocally.

“No, we’re open for another two hours, so there’s no rush.” 

“Oh good. See you seen.”

-PxR-PxR-PxR-PxR-

The minute Phasma hung up, she gave Poe a  _ look _ . “Would you please refrain from shouting while I’m on the phone?” She asked dryly.

“You flirting is...far less terrifying than I thought it would be.” Poe responded, brow raised. “Very smooth, only lightly domineering. It’s a good thing you don’t like men, or Rose and I would have to keep you away from Finn.” Phasma rolled her eyes. 

“I don’t flirt with fellow First Order employees.” She said flatly. “Now, I need a ride back to the Auto Shop, can I trust you to...no, no I can’t. Finn, I need a ride!”

“You can’t keep me from your new...what’s the lesbian version of ‘boy toy’?” Phasma blinked at the comment, then cocked her head to the side. 

“I’m not sure. Huh.”

“Well, regardless, you can’t keep me from her forever!” 

“I haven’t even known her a full 24 hours.” Phasma pointed out reasonably. “Tell you what, if I sleep with her, I’ll introduce you the next day.”

“Deal.” Poe said instantly. Phasma snorted and headed off to go find Finn.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Phasma short circuits Rey, Rey's thought processes aren't necessarily healthy but she does have three cats, and a wild Hux appears.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So uhm...this is the part where I must frankly admit that I have no idea how car engines really work, in terms of individual pieces, and the varying ways in which they break. So...yeah, we're just going to kind of gloss over all the technical descriptions. Let's just all assume that Rey is good at her job and whatever she was telling Phasma is correct, please?
> 
> Also...gotta admit, when I started this, I kinda expected to spend more time in Rey's perspective than Phasma's. Not sure what's happening there, just where my brain goes I guess!

Upon arriving at the auto shop, Phasma nodded along patiently as Rey explained what she’d discovered to be wrong with the car’s engine.The young woman seemed so dedicated to her craft and so interested in cars that she didn’t have the heart to cut it short, even if she had less than no interest in the details. She still paid attention though, if only so she could relay the details to Armitage. Someone was going to have to talk to their vehicles division about this mess after all. Plus it’d give him the opportunity to bitch at Ben in specifics, seeing as the moody man was the one who was in charge of said vehicles.

So she listened, filing away all the details and seeing how many times she could make Rey stutter and stumble and lose her focus just by directing her gaze to a different part of the young woman’s body. Five times by the end of the speech, each instance a delightful treasure. “So uhm...yeah, that’s the long and short of it.” Rey said finally, cheeks bright pink. “It was an easy enough fix, but you’ll need to keep an ear on the noises it makes for the next few days to be safe. If it breaks again, then either your company is using shoddy parts,” That made Phasma give a small chuckle, Ben would take a comment like that from a backwater mechanic probably a decade younger than him well. “Or else I found a symptom rather than the larger problem.” Rey finished, blush a little brighter. Phasma filed away the reaction to her chuckle and nodded.

“Thank you very much Rey, you’ve saved me from spending more time carpooling with my co-workers.” She said warmly. “They can be remarkably insubordinate, and it gets tiring.” Rey chuckled herself, the noise light and airy.

“I would imagine so.” She paused, then cleared her throat nervously. “Can...can I have my jacket now?” 

“Oh, have you just been tolerating my presence until I hand it over?” Phasma asked teasingly. Rey began quickly shaking her head.

“No! No, not at all, I swear! I just have to head home soon, eat dinner and feed my cats. And I don’t really want to ride my motorcycle home in just a tank top.” Phasma nodded. Sadly, she didn’t want to force the young woman to do that either. Still, it didn’t mean she couldn’t get a little teasing in still. 

“A pity, I grew rather fond of having it. It smells quite nice, I was tempted to put it next to my pillow.” Now  _ that _ was a reaction, Phasma thought with fond amusement as Rey let out a loud squeak and turned the color of Ben’s ceremonial sword. “Here you go dear.” She held out the jacket, allowing the younger woman to hurry forward and take it. “Now, did I hear you right? You haven’t had dinner yet?” Rey quickly shook her head, and Phasma nodded. “Well, why don’t you let me fix that? My treat.” 

“I...I can’t.” Rey said, voice tinged with regret. “Aside from the fact that my cats would eat me if I didn’t feed them exactly at the time they’re used to, strictly speaking you’re a customer still, and ...Mister Plutt is quite firm about not accepting tips if you’re not a waiter or waitress.” Phasma let out a hum and nodded.

“I see. Will I still be a customer tomorrow?” Rey blinked.

“Uhm...I don’t think so...it’s never really come up before so I don’t know the specific timeline on that but…”

“Let’s just say that I won’t be then.” The older woman interrupted. “When will you be off tomorrow?” 

“Oh...uhm, actually tomorrow’s my day off. We’re open 7 days a week, so we operate like retail, random days off each week.” Phasma grinned.

“Excellent. Text me your address, and tell me when you want to be picked up.” She said. “I’ll ensure I have time to take you to lunch and dinner.” Rey blinked a few times.

“Wait, what?”

“Well, personally I never found the idea of breakfast dates appealing, and I find it safest to never assume someone’s a morning person besides.” Phasma said with a shrug. 

“No, no, I get that I mean...you don’t have to do that…”

“I know I don’t. I want to. Now, if you have plans, friends you wanted to spend time with, or if you just don’t feel like it, you’re more than welcome to say no, but I don’t see why we can’t make our first date last a good six hours.” Rey blushed.

“Date?” She asked timidly.

“Yes you adorable little thing.” Phasma said, grabbing Rey’s chin gently once again. “A date. You’re a smart, clever, precious young woman, and beautiful besides, and I want to get to know you better. Maybe even get to  _ know _ you. And that requires dating.” She leaned down and pressed a soft kiss to Rey’s lips, then straightened, smirking as the young woman froze and began babbling gibberish at a speed Phasma had previously only associated with cartoon chipmunks. “Don’t forget, I need your address.” She said cheerfully, slipping into her car and backing out of the auto shop. As she did so, she sent a text to Armitage, requesting (stating politely that she was going to take) a personal day.

-PxR-PxR-PxR-PxR-

Rey wasn’t entirely certain when she fully regained control of her brain after Phasma had kissed her. It felt like hours, but was probably, hopefully, only a few seconds. She hadn’t meant to short circuit like that, but it had been her first kiss, and from a beautiful, kind, woman besides! She needed time to process, re-calibrate, adjust. Even if part of her just wanted to dance around like Rudolph, shouting happily about how ‘she thinks I’m cute!’. But no. That’d have to wait. She couldn’t do that in the shop. 

Admittedly, part of her had to wonder if Phasma was trying to get something from her. That didn’t make much sense, surely it would be fairly obvious to anyone that she didn’t have much of anything to offer, but at the same time, she couldn’t think of any other reason for Phasma to be expressing interest in her. Despite what the woman had said, she knew she wasn’t pretty, let alone beautiful. She was rough, too much time spent in the desert, working with her hand, repairing things. Just rough enough to not look like a doll, but not enough to pass off as a full Amazon the way the older woman did. So flattery like that immediately put her on edge, made her wonder what the goal was. 

Rey decided to shove those fears aside for the moment though. She’d spent her whole life surrounded by people who wanted things from her after all. At least Phasma was willing to disguise her intentions with kindness, rather than demanding things or attempting violence. She could enjoy the ride she felt. 

That decided she nodded, then set about doing what she needed to do to close the shop for the night. It was a relatively easy process, Jakku wasn’t exactly a bustling town, and she got out to her motorcycle without any fuss. It wasn’t much to look at, her bike. She kept it clean and it ran well, but there wasn’t an original part on the thing. Still, it was  _ hers _ . She’d bought each and every part, she’d built it, she owned it free and clear, and that was all that mattered as far as she was concerned. 

Like closing up, her ride home was uneventful, and in short order she was walking into her small apartment. No sooner had she closed the door than did a small weight land on her shoulders. “Hello BB.” She giggled, reaching up to stroke the small orange and white kitten. There was a scrambling noise, and then suddenly another cat was in front of her. She crouched down and held out her hand, letting the scarred, one eyed tomcat sniff her hand cautiously. One day she was sure Dio would be fully adjusted to lack of ill intent, but she was willing to be patient. The scars of abuse ran deep. “Hello to you too buddy.” She said gently before looking around. Her eyes eventually found the elderly pure white Persian on top of her bookshelf, and she chuckled. “No greeting for me Art?” A yowl that could have been happy or rude depending on how you took it was her only response. 

“I know, I know. Food.” She said soothingly, walking to the corner of the studio that qualified as a kitchen, batting aside BB’s paw as he attempted to knock one of the cans off the shelf. “Well, if that’s the one you want.” She chuckled, grabbing two cans of food and distributing them between the orange, green, and blue bowls. That accomplished, her cats fed and sated, she walked back to the fridge and opened it. Refrigerating MREs wasn’t strictly necessary she knew, but they made the food a little easier to stomach. 

She might have been able to afford real food without her cats she knew, but probably not. Jakku was small and isolated enough that no real retail chain had even brushed a tentacle across the desert town, making anything not in a can prohibitively expensive for someone of her means. The military surplus might be tasteless, but it was more nutritious than canned pasta or soup, and her ex-foster father gave his employees a good discount. 

So, like her concerns with Phasma, she pushed aside thoughts of consistently getting real food instead of saving to get it once a month and carried the package to her couch, picking up her current book, a biography of Alice Roosevelt, and set about unwinding. It had been a very long day, and tomorrow promised to be insane, so she needed something relaxing. A good book about a remarkable but long dead woman who’d never set foot in Jakku was just the escapism she needed. Just as soon as she texted Phasma her address of course.

-PxR-PxR-PxR-PxR-

Phasma was just reading Rey’s text when her phone began ringing. She sighed and answered. “Hello Armitage, how can I help you?” She asked dryly. “Was there a typo in a status report?” 

“You’re taking a personal day?” Was her incredulous response.

“Yes. Poe and Finn are quite competent, and given that the United States somehow hasn’t quite dissolved into a civil war yet I feel they can handle things on their own.”

“You never take personal days!”

“Then I’m overdue.” There was a moment of silence on the other end, then a long sigh.

“Fair enough I suppose.” Hux responded. “Let it never be said that First Order Securities behaves as badly as Amazon.” He paused. “Though I must confess, I can’t imagine what there is for you to  _ do _ in a place like Jakku.” Phasma smirked. It was a bit early to  _ plan _ on doing things to her little mechanic, but she could certainly  _ imagine  _ doing them.

“It depends entirely on your perspective and interests.” She said simply. Unfortunately, Armitage knew her entirely too well.

“You found a woman? On your first day? In  _ Jakku, Utah _ ?” He demanded incredulously. “One you’re interested in enough to request a personal day already?”

“Armitage, I already had to deal with Poe’s reactions, so if you don’t silence yourself now I will be forced to tell Ben about what I found in your browser history.” There was a moment of panicked silence.

“Very well. Request granted, have a good night and a good day off.” Then he hung up, and Phasma chuckled. This trip was definitely proving to be more amusing than she’d expected.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's the end of the chapter! Hope you enjoyed it! I very much appreciate your comments, please feel free to ask questions, criticize my writing, or recommend things!


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone! Sorry about the impromptu hiatus! Didn't mean for that to happen, didn't particularly want it to happen, but there you go, sometimes life and my mental state get messy as all hell. 
> 
> This chapter is...shorter than I'd like, honestly, but I needed to get something out and trying to find more to say in it was just giving me an excuse to keep not posting. Despite the shorter length I feel the writer's still up to my standard, and I hope y'all agree!

Rey woke up and stared at the ceiling for a long time. She let out a sigh and swung her legs out of the bed. She was...fairly certain that Phasma wouldn’t really show up. There was no real reason for the woman to do so after all. Other people could work on her company’s cars, there were prettier women in Jakku and a wealthy stranger probably had access to even more beautiful women from the rest of the world, Rey’s attempts at flirting had gone horribly, and afterwards her behavior had been awkward and flustered. She had nothing to give Phasma, and so she couldn’t imagine why the taller, older, prettier woman would be interested in her.

That being said, she couldn’t help herself. And so, after feeding her cats and making sure they had plenty of water, she straightened herself up. She showered, ate an MRE, tied her hair up in its vertical buns, and put on her best clothes, a pair of khaki slacks and a loose white blouse. With that taken care of she sat down on the couch and began to read, glancing at the oven clock every few minutes out of a mixture of hope and wanting to quash that hope. Eventually the time would arrive and Phasma wouldn’t have and she’d be able to move on with her day. Until noon though, Rey would be trapped in hoping for her to show up. 

The knock on her door at precisely noon made her jump. “Coming!” She called, setting the book down and hurrying to do the door. She opened it to reveal Phasma, standing before her in a silver blouse and black slacks, both of which were tighter than Rey’s own in a wonderful way that made her cheeks get a pink tinge. “Oh!” She said, eyes wide as she looked up at the other woman.

“Expecting somebody else?” Phasma asked, arching an eyebrow.

“Not everyone at the auto shop likes using phones.” Rey explained. “Sometimes they just show up and tell me to come to work.” Phasma arched a brow.

“Well that seems like poor work conditions.” She said dryly. Rey frowned and shrugged at that. She couldn’t very well disagree with that,but since she couldn’t do anything about the situation she didn’t much feel like dwelling on it. Phasma just nodded and smiled. “Well, hopefully I’m a much more pleasant visitor than any of your co-workers.” Rey blushed a little brighter but nodded.

“Very much so.” She said earnestly. Phasma smiled and nodded.

“Good. You’re certainly better company than my co-workers.”

“We’ve only known each other for a day.” Rey pointed out. Phasma snorted.

“And you’re not a snarky brat or a worrywort, so you’re already better than the two men I had to carpool with yesterday.” She retorted dryly. Rey blinked, then gave a small smile. 

“Is that part of the plan for today?” She asked. “Trash talk our co-workers?” She began pulling on her brown boots as she spoke. Phasma chuckled, then shook her head. 

“No, as much fun as that would be, perhaps not. Mine mean well. They can just be...a lot to handle at times. However, I feel like I’m a pretty safe person to vent to, so if you want, you can talk away.” Rey hesitated, then shook her head back.

“No...no, that doesn’t seem like a good plan. It’s fine.” She said certainly, stepping out of her apartment and locking the door behind her. “If I start complaining, who knows when I’d stop? Opening a high pressure valve only ends well if you’re prepared to deal with everything that comes out after all.” She pointed out with a shrug.

“Maintaining a constant high pressure is bad for the vessel though.” Phasma pointed out in return. Rey blinked, then chuckled. 

“Turnabout is fair play I guess.” She conceded. “But I’m okay, really.” Phasma raised an eyebrow, but nodded. 

“If you’re certain.” She said, accepting. “I was thinking we’d go get lunch, then we could return to my mobile and watch some movies. I noticed a complete lack of a movie theater in this town, and while I’m sure you’ve seen some, you seem smart enough to know how pirating works and there’s always Netflix…” Rey shook her head.

“Mister Plutt shuts off our internet if the provider notices us pirating or getting Netflix, and he gets harsher if you try and get a VPN. He owns the rental store you see. I haven’t seen a movie in...three years or so.” Phasma blinked at that, then sighed.

“The more I hear about Plutt the more I wonder if taking this contract was a good idea.” She admitted. “Though I suppose you make up for it.” She added with a grin down at Rey that made the orphaned mechanic’s knees weak.

“Glad to hear it.” She said happily. Phasma’s grin turned a little softer and leaned down to press a kiss to Rey’s cheek, getting a squeak from Rey. 

“Aww, no short circuiting of your brain today?” Phasma teased. Rey flushed bright red. 

“I...uhm...yesterday was my first kiss, and a bigger surprise.” She stammered. Phasma chuckled.

“I’ll keep that in mind.” She promised. “Surprises, good to know.”

“Or you could  _ not _ actively try to make my brain short circuit.” Rey objected as Phasma led her out to the car she’d been fixing yesterday. Phasma gave a fake pout.

“But it was so adorable.” She purred, chuckling. Rey blushed again. 

“We don’t have to go to lunch if you don’t want to, I know the restaurants here can get pretty pricey.” She said, changing the subject. “I already had breakfast, and I don’t usually eat more than two meals a day, so it’s nothing crazy.” Phasma blinked and frowned.

“Well, firstly, I don’t think that’s healthy.” She said slowly. “But secondly, strictly speaking this isn’t my money. The company pays for my food while I’m on a job. So you’re not eating from my bank account, you’re eating from the budget of a multi-billion dollar company.” Admittedly Phasma was a multimillionaire so the money wasn’t an issue regardless, but still. The object of her attention was an easily frazzled little thing, she could tell, and she didn’t think admitting the full size of her bank account would go over very well. Best to hold that particular card a little closer to her chest. “Money’s not an object, and it’s never going to be, okay?” She said gently, smiling. “Now then, what do you want to eat?”

“Uhm...a burger sounds nice.” Rey confessed, blushing. Phasma smiled. 

“Alright, let’s go find a burger place.” She agreed readily, pulling out of the parking lot.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you all for reading this! I hope you liked it! Will probably do follow up chapters, showing the changing dynamic and gentle correction of Rey's behaviors, as well as the overall development of their relationship.


End file.
